SoftBank, Alibaba to Invest $445 Million in India’s Paytm E-Commerce

An advertisement of Paytm, a digital wallet company, is pictured at a road side stall in Kolkata, India, January 25, 2017. Picture taken January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

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MUMBAI (Reuters)

SoftBank Group is investing $400 million in India’s Paytm E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd. in a funding round that will value the online retailer at roughly $1.9 billion, a regulatory filing showed on Monday

Alibaba, an existing investor in Paytm E-Commerce, is also putting in $45 million in the round, the filing showed.

SoftBank, which is among major investors in India’s fast-growing e-commerce sector and already owns a stake in Paytm’s parent, confirmed investing in Paytm Mall, the brand name under which Paytm E-Commerce operates an online market place.

People walk behind the logo of SoftBank Corp in Tokyo December 18, 2014. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

“We believe Paytm Mall’s offline-to-online operating model, combined with the strength of the Paytm ecosystem, is uniquely positioned to enable India’s 15 million offline retail shops to participate in India’s e-commerce boom,” SoftBank said in a statement on Monday.

In a separate statement, Amit Sinha, chief operating officer of Paytm Mall said the company would deploy the latest investment from SoftBank and Alibaba to beef up its technology and build superior logistics among other things.

A sign of Alibaba Group is seen during the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, December 3, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song

A filing with India’s Registrar of Companies showed SoftBank units will get a 21.1 percent stake in Paytm E-Commerce after the investment which would come in four tranches.

Alibaba.Com Singapore E-Commerce Pvt. Ltd, which currently owns 36.3 percent of the Indian e-retailer, will remain the single-largest shareholder of Paytm E-Commerce but with a relatively smaller stake of just over 30 percent after its latest investment is completed in four tranches.

Paytm E-Commerce competes with Amazon.com Inc‘s Indian unit and home-grown Flipkart. A group company of Paytm’s parent One97 Communications Ltd runs India’s biggest digital wallet services and also has a stake in a payments bank.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund took roughly a fifth of Flipkart last year for $2.5 billion.

The Japanese group is also one of the biggest investors in another Indian e-tailer Snapdeal.